Gebirgsjaeger: Germany's Mountain Troops

By Ray Merriam

Merriam Press World War 2 History No. 9. First eBook Edition, 2015. Articles and over 60 photos and illustrations on the units, weapons, uniforms, insignia, equipment, men and activities of Germany’s mountain troops. CONTENTS: (1) Gebirgsjäger: Germany’s Mountain Troops. (2) Weapons. (3) Equipment. (4) Awards. (5) Story of a Jäger: Gabriel Kopold, 1st Gebirgs Div., 98th Gebirgsjäger Rgt., 12th Company. (6) 1st Gebirgsjäger Div. (7) 2nd Gebirgsjäger Div. (8) 3rd Gebirgsjäger Div. (9) 4th Gebirgsjäger Div. (10) 5th Gebirgsjäger Div. (11) 6th Gebirgsjäger Div. (12) 7th Gebirgsjäger Div. (13) 8th Gebirgsjäger Div. (14) 9th Gebirgsjäger Div. (15) 157th Gebirgsjäger Div. (16) 188th Reserve Gebirgsjäger Div. (17) 188th Gebirgsjäger Div. (18) 100th Gebirgsjäger Regiment, 5th Gebirgsjäger Div. (19) Hochgebirgs-Jäger Bns. (20) 1st Skijäger Div. (21) Attack on Marukhkoy Pass: Caucasus, Sept. 1942. (22) Kriegsmarine Gebirgsjäger. (23) Gebirgsjäger Present Their Comradeship. (24) References. 67 photos, 14 tables.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Merriam Press
• Release date: Oct 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781576384060

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Gebirgsjaeger: Germany's Mountain Troops

Gebirgsjaeger: Germany’s Mountain Troops

Ray Merriam

Editor

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World War 2 History 9

Bennington, Vermont

2015

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First eBook Edition

Copyright © 1988 by Ray Merriam

First published by Merriam Press in 1988

Additional material copyright of named contributors.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

The views expressed are solely those of the author.

ISBN 9781576384060

This work was designed, produced, and published in the United States of America by the Merriam Press, 133 Elm Street, Suite 3R, Bennington VT 05201.

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Gebirgsjäger: Germany’s Mountain Troops

Unlike other countries in Continental Europe, Germany had no specially trained mountain troops at the start of World War I. France, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, by contrast, all had mountain units as part of their armies from the 1870s onward. Germany’s late start was due to her military treaties with Austria-Hungary and Italy whose forces she relied on to secure mountain fronts in the event of a continental war. When war came in 1914, this policy soon proved embarrassing, for Italy joined the Allied cause and became an enemy, while Austria-Hungary needed all available men to fight against the Russians in the east. Faced with this problem, Germany raised an ad hoc mountain force—the Alpenkorps—raised around a nucleus of volunteers who had peacetime ski or mountaineering experience, or who had lived or vacationed in mountain regions. Suitable guns for mountain use were scarce and a hasty assortment was mustered, mainly Krupp export products or light weapons drawn from German colonial units.

The Alpenkorps, despite its improvised nature, proved surprisingly successful. On the Italian front, where the crack Alpini units of the Italian Army were expected to provide tough opposition, the Alpenkorps soon gained the upper hand. This was because the Italian generals held the Alpini units either in tactical reserve or guarding areas of particularly difficult terrain. The bulk of the mountain fronts were covered by ordinary troops with no specialized mountain warfare training. By contrast Alpenkorps companies were spread out to bolster up and lead the ordinary units which the Germans had, perforce, to employ all along the Alpine front. One such independent Alpenkorps company led the attack at Caporetto which resulted in the most important German victory of the war against Italy, the securing of the Isonzo Valley. The Alpenkorps company commander responsible for this feat, which involved storming and holding a dominating mountain ridge was a young lieutenant, Erwin Rommel, later to become the distinguished panzer general of World War II.

The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 put major restrictions on the size of Germany’s postwar Army. Only one battalion of mountain infantry (now called Gebirgsjäger) was permitted, together with one mountain signal company, one mountain engineer company, and two mountain artillery batteries. These units themselves came under the control of a normal infantry division. In addition there were four light infantry battalions trained to fight in low mountains but these were not classed as true mountain troops.

Meanwhile Austria had kept up strong mountain forces after World War I and had no less than six full mountain infantry regiments and four independent mountain battalions, more than half her standing peacetime Army. The new military command of the Third Reich realized from the accumulated experiences of World War I that mountain troops were important, and when Austria was annexed in 1938 the Austrian mountain units were all absorbed into the German Army. When war was declared in 1939 there was thus three full mountain divisions available for deployment (by contrast there were five still incomplete panzer divisions). By 1944 there were nine Army mountain divisions and four Waffen-SS mountain divisions. In addition there were under German command mountain divisions from Croatia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, and Italy, plus several independent mountain battalions and brigades. This made a grand total of twenty-one mountain divisions in all, or their equivalent in manpower. A number of light infantry (Jäger) divisions were trained for mountain operations as well. Besides all this there were some miscellaneous mountain units including Luftwaffe flakartillerie, Luftwaffe signal sections, and even police (Polizei) units trained for mountain operations.

Mountain divisions were deployed on all the main fighting fronts including Poland (Tatra Mountains and Carpathians), Norway, France (Vosges), the Balkans, Crete, Lapland, Russia (Caucasus), Italy (Apennines and Alps) and even Tunisia.

The laid down establishment for a mountain division (Gebirgs Division) included a divisional headquarters, a cycle battalion, two mountain infantry regiments, one mountain artillery regiment, one mountain engineer battalion, one anti-tank battalion, plus auxiliary units (medical, provost, supply, etc.). There was some variation in actual establishment and manning scales, depending on the period and place. Some divisions were much under strength in the last year or so of the war. The tables presented herein give theoretical strengths and equipment scales for a typical fully-equipped mountain division. Equipment of the 1943-44 period is quoted but there were variations for earlier or later periods.

The mountain infantry regiment (Gebirgsjäger Regiment) formed the backbone of the mountain division and employed rather more men (with lighter equipment and weapons) than an ordinary infantry regiment. The actual strength could and did vary but a typical infantry regiment at full establishment is shown in Tables 3 and 4.

Uniform

The Gebirgsjäger soldiers wore a uniform that was unique to any other arm of the Wehrmacht. It consisted of a field service jacket with the Edelweiss badge worn on the right sleeve, wide cut trousers, weighty (2.36 kg) alpine boots and short puttees. Characteristic of all mountain soldiers was the Bergmütze (mountain cap) with the Edelweiss badge on the left side.

Equipment

The weight of burden a single rifleman had to carry seems incredible. He had to wear: uniform, shirt, long pants, socks, underjacket, and carry equipment which included a water bottle, musette bag, entrenching tools and weapons. Inside the Grosse rucksack a ground sheet, blanket, wind cheater, another shirt, reserve pants, reserve socks, Balaclava caps, waist belt, gloves, mess tin plus cutlery, one kilogram of bread, one large tin can of meat, and one small can of lard.

That fighting ration had to last for two days, afterwards pack animals would bring supplies up to the front line. In the musette bag was an iron ration with chocolate, etc., washing gear, patching gear and candles or flashlight. In